


Icarus

by bananas_are_good_9



Series: Banana's Trash Pile [3]
Category: Sherlock Holmes & Related Fandoms
Genre: Animal Abuse, Episode: s02e02 The Hounds of Baskerville, John has wings, Kidnapping, M/M, Medical Experimentation, Poor John, Reichenbach Falls, Season 2 compliant, Stapleton is a crazy bitch, poor bird, sort of
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2014-07-20
Updated: 2014-07-20
Packaged: 2018-02-09 15:35:40
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,808
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1988316
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/bananas_are_good_9/pseuds/bananas_are_good_9
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Sherlock and John were ready to leave Baskerville behind them when Doctor Stapleton showed up, saying Major Barrymore needed to speak with John. Little did they know that Stapleton has a certain sponsor that helps her with her work...</p>
            </blockquote>





	Icarus

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you for clicking on this even with that crappy summary... This fic has been on my mind for a while and I haven't been able to think of anything for my other story because of this one... So please enjoy the lovechild of my brain and reading too much winglock fanfiction!!
> 
> Unbeta'd and unbritpicked.  
> Sherlock belongs to whoever owns him...which isn't me, sadly...

I watched Sherlock walk away for a moment before turning back to finish my breakfast. True to his word, Sherlock came to stand beside me as I finished the last of my coffee. I piled my dishes and stood, looking up at him.

“Packed?” I asked, turning to walk back towards the pub. Sherlock hummed noncommittally and I glanced up at him as I placed my stack of dishes on the bar. I recognized the faraway look in his eyes and sighed. “Alright then, best be off then.”

Sherlock followed me upstairs in silence, speaking as we were getting our bags together. “We should get a dog.”

I hefted my bag onto my shoulder and laughed. “What?”

“You heard me John. Don’t make me repeat myself, it’s redundant and unnecessary.”

“Why would you want to get a dog?”

“I find a certain…appeal to owning one.”

I sighed and turned to face my flat mate. “Sherlock, have you even owned an animal before?”

“I have.” Sherlock replied, standing a little straighter and jutting out his chin. “Mycroft bought me a parrot when I was eight.”

“And how did that end?” I asked, turning to walk out of the room. I could practically feel Sherlock glaring at the back of my head as we headed back down the stairs. “Not good then?”

“I still don’t see your point. Mycroft gave me the bird and told me that I would be responsible for it. It isn’t my fault that it was boring and I…neglected to feed it.”

“Forgot you mean?”

“No. It didn’t hold my attention for long periods of time so I didn’t spend much time around it.”

“So you forgot about it.”

By this time we had started going down the stone path away from the pub. Sherlock opened his mouth to respond but a voice interrupted him.

“Doctor Watson!” A voice called from behind us. We turned to see Doctor Stapleton running toward us. “Doctor Watson, I’m glad I caught you.” She offered a kind, if a little stiff, smile. “Major Barrymore wishes to speak with you.”

“Just me?” I asked, glancing at Sherlock.

She nodded. “I think he’s had enough of him,” she glanced at Sherlock, who glared back, “to last him a while.”

“What’s so important that he only needs John?” Sherlock snapped, annoyed.

“Thanks.” I muttered under my breath.

“He didn’t tell me.” She shot back. “Just called me into his office and said I am to fetch Doctor Watson.” She looked back at me.

“Why you? I’m sure there are at least a dozen other people that could have pulled this off.”

“Sherlock, leave it.” I interjected as Stapleton opened her mouth to reply. “This shouldn’t take long, should it?” I asked her. She shook her head and I turned back towards Sherlock. “Look, take my bag and head to the train station. I’ll catch up.”

Sherlock looked at us for a moment before nodding and taking my bag from my outstretched hand. I gave him a short nod before I turned and followed Doctor Stapleton down the gravel path towards her Jeep.

“So do you really not know what he wants to talk about or was it too “sensitive” to say in front of Sherlock?” I asked, climbing into the passenger side of the truck.

“Sorry, really don’t know a thing.” Stapleton sighed as she turned on the Jeep and pulled away from the pub. I nodded and we settled into an uncomfortable silence. The quiet lasted until we were nearly at the Baskerville gates and Stapleton broke the silence. “Have you known Sherlock long?”

I startled slightly at the sudden sound and turned to look at her from my original position of looking out of the window, watching the hills roll by. “Uh, yeah. I guess you could say that. We’ve been flat mates for a little over a year.” Stapleton glanced at me and her mouth curled into a mischievous smile. “What of it?” I asked, eyes narrowing.

“Oh, nothing. You two just seem rather close for two blokes.”

“Oh for the love of…” I pinched the bridge of my nose in annoyance. “Doctor Stapleton, that is highly inappropriate.”

“No need to be coy, Doctor Watson. We’re both adults.” She shut off the engine as we reached the gate and handed the guard her I.D. while K-9 units searched the car. I remained quiet throughout the process, my brow furrowing as something occurred to me. We were rolling through the gates when I spoke up.

“Have you read my blog by any chance?”

Stapleton stiffened slightly. “No, I can’t say I have.” She glanced at me as we drove around to the back of the building. “Why do you ask?”

“I don’t recall introducing myself as Doctor Watson. Yet, you’ve called me that several times.” I pressed. Something seemed off, I started wishing Sherlock had tagged along.

“Oh, Major Barrymore called you that.” She replied after a moments hesitation. She parked the Jeep behind the main building, shut off the engine, and got out of the vehicle.

I followed after her after a moment of thought. If there was something else going on, I could just call Sherlock. She was waiting for me next to a door that leads into the building. When I stopped next to her, she slip a keycard into the lock beside the door and held the door open for me after it unlocked. I stepped through the door and into a dimly lit hallway. “Isn’t the Major’s office in the other side of the building?”

I heard Stapleton sigh and felt a prick in the side of my neck. “You’re going to wish you had waited for the chair to get here before you started asking questions.”

I tried to face her and defend myself before whatever she gave me kicked in, but I found that the world was tilted on its axis and I only succeeded in slamming into something solid. Looking around, I discovered the thing I slammed into was the wall. This revelation came along with a dull pain in my arse. I looked down, frowning slightly at the light throb, and oh look! I was sitting on the floor now… When did that happen?

I looked up at Stapleton who, from this angle, looked like an ethereal giant with the lights behind her. “Wh-what did you give me?” I slurred.

“Just something I cooked up.” She smiles smugly, stepping closer. “I can do whatever I want. I’ve got a sponsor.”

I stared at her, brow furrowed and my bottom lip sticking out slightly in confusion as her words sunk in. I blinked a couple times when her face with blurry. “Really?” I said finally, I was intrigued. “Who’s your sponsor?”

She gave me a patronizing look. “I’m not telling you his name. He said you know each other and that you would have to figure it out yourself. He did tell me to say “Hi!” for him though.” Faintly, I heard wheels squeaking on the tile flooring as I felt my heart stop. Her words caused my brain to clear slightly and I tried to get my mobile out of my pocket. Once I pulled it out of my pocket, a hand shot out and took it from my hand. I looked up to see Stapleton holding my mobile. How rude. Why would she just take it from me? Oh right, because she drugged me.

The squeaking grew louder until it stopped beside me. Looking up, I saw another giant, angelic person standing behind a wheelchair. My vision was starting to darken around the edges as I slumped against the wall. The last thing I remembered before I was pulled under by the drug’s effects was strong arms lifting me off of the floor by my armpits.

* * *

As I awoke, I was in a state of blissful ignorance until I tried to stretch and found my arms unresponsive. I started to panic when I realized that I couldn’t feel anything below my neck. I looked down and saw that my arms were tied to a chair I was sitting in, along with my feet and a tie around my middle. I looked up when steps approached and hissed as a bright light was shined in my eyes, causing my head to throb.

“It’s about time you woke up.” A voice said behind the light.

“What…?” I began, my voice think with sleep.

“Don’t worry. That’s just the sedative. You’ll come out of it soon.” The voice said, moving to stand behind me. Without any warning, the chair lurched forward and the sudden movement made the rest of the fog from the drug clear from my head. With this new clarity, I was able to recall what had happened and match the voice to a face.

“Stapleton. Why can’t I move.” I nearly shouted, trying desperately to move anything but my head.

“You were out for some time.” She continued, ignoring me. “The sedative I had created acts quickly but it doesn’t last very long at all. Two to three minutes tops.” She was wheeling me towards a set of double doors with small circular windows and sheets of metal attached to the bottom. I recognized them from whenever I needed to take a pet to the vet.“So you can imagine if I was worried when my prized specimen was still unconscious for five minutes.” She said sadly, worry lacing her words. She ran her fingers through my hair as she spoke.

I jerked my head away from her hand. “Specimen?” I snapped, dread settling heavily in my gut. I glanced around the hallway we were moving down. It had no defining features and with the amount of time I was out of it, based on if what she said was true, I could be on any floor under the compound.

“Yes, and the perfect one for what I have planned.” She hummed happily. “It was so hard, trying to find the perfect one. Some were too short, too tall, too old, too fat…” She made a disgusted noise in the back of her throat. “But then my sponsor gave me your name and you are perfect.” She purred, pushing me through the double doors. There was another set just a few feet away and through the doors, I could smell the stale stench of urine. “I thought it was hopeless, you know, trying to find someone that was right for this.”

“What is “this” exactly?”

“You’ll see.” She cooed as she pushed me through the second set of doors. The smell hit me like a wall and it took everything I had to resist coughing as my eyes watered. “It is rather awful, isn’t it?” Stapleton sighed, apparently taking pity on me and slipping a surgical mask over my mouth and nose.

Though I was grateful for a thin barrier between me and the smell, I ignored her comment and looked around my new surroundings, my eyes widening as I took them in.

The new room we were in seemed to be a ten meter by ten meter square. The once clinically white floor and walls were now stained. I cringed at the spots of red mixed with the grime. Surrounding us were clear boxes of all different sizes. They were all quite tall, nearly my height or taller. My stomach churned as Stapleton started moving me through the boxes. I heard her talking to me, telling me about the things in the boxes… _cages_ …but it didn’t register as I took in the sad creatures within them.

As we moved down the aisle, I saw birds with an extra set of wings dragging limply behind them, later mice and rats with the same affliction. Around the fifth box of these, there were some that could use their wings. We stopped in front of the first cage with small mice with wings bigger than they were flying to platforms several feet above them.

“…-ny trials, we were finally able to get several successes.” Stapleton said proudly from behind me.

“B-but how are they able to fly?” I stammered. “I’m not a bird expert but wouldn’t their bones be too dense?”

Stapleton hummed. “Let’s not get into any specifics but, with my sponsor’s help, I was able to figure out a way to replace many of the subject’s bones with lighter but more durable substitutes as well as transfer the marrow without killing the host.”

I was in a stunned silence as she continued pushing me down the aisle. The animals grew larger and, surprisingly, so did the wings. I saw rabbits, cats, dogs, penguins, different sizes of primates, and even horses. When we passed a beautiful Arabian with large black wings, just one was longer than Sherlock is tall, and long scars running along where its bones would lay, I found my voice.

“How is this even possible? There are no birds that grow to these sizes.” I gaped as we passed a gorilla with wings that looked like they belonged to a parrot.

“I told you that size was not a problem.” I could hear the shrug in Stapleton’s voice. “My predecessor started experiments with all types of birds, making them larger, stronger, that sort of thing. When he died, there were _hundreds_ of giant birds left. And they were still breeding.” We turned down another aisle and I saw the giant birds she was talking about. The strange thing about it was, with all the animals in this room, it was deathly quiet. The only noise in the whole room was Stapleton’s voice.

As we went down the aisle, I watched as the birds in the cages retreaded from the side of the cage we were on, some often hiding their faces in their wings. It broke my heart when I saw two colorful birds pressed into the corners of their cages that were closest to each other. Probably a mated pair then.

“This is abuse!” I cried, interrupting whatever Stapleton was saying now.

“Remember what I said about morals, Doctor? They’re being stretched to the limit down here.” At the end of the aisle, I saw yet another set of double doors with larger concentrations of red around them. She stopped us right at the end of the aisle and angled me to the left. I was shocked and more than a little worried when I saw the prison was still empty. “This is where you will be staying after your…procedure.” She angled me to the right. “And this is your donor.” My breath was taken away when I locked eyes with the bird within.

Despite the conditions it lived in, the regal looking bird held its head high and still had a look of fight in its eye. It had a dark grey cap with markings that looked like reverse fangs on its cheeks. Its back and wings were a lighter grey with dark grey speckles. Its under belly was an even lighter grey with grey speckles covering it. Its tail was the same grey as its back but instead of dark grey speckles, neat stripes ran horizontally down the length of it. The whole bird was resting upon two yellow feet, each with four talons as long as John’s hand. Its dark eyes bore into John’s and its long yellow beak, with a spot of black on the end, opened and it let out a loud screech.

“She’s a Peregrine Falcon. You two were practically made for each other. Without the tail, her body is practically the same length as yours.” Stapleton said, unable to keep her joy from her voice.

“Yeah, wonderful.” I mumbled before her words really sunk in. “Wait. What are you going to do?” I cried, panicking a little.

“You’re asking me that after everything I just showed you? He said you were a little slow but, wow.” Stapleton started wheeling me towards the double doors. As we began moving away, I saw a few tranquilizers fly through the air holes in the top of the cage and into the bird. My heart filled with dread as the bird let out a surprised squawk and began thrashing around in her cage.

When she pushed me through the doors, I was filled with dread as I saw an operating table with arm extensions in front of me. Two orderlies came out of nowhere and started detaching me from the wheelchair. “I’m really comfy here, thanks.” I said weakly even as they were lifting me out of the chair. They placed me on my back on the table, stripped me of my clothes, and strapped me to the table by my wrists and ankles.

As soon as they were done, they backed off and Stapleton and what looked to be an entire surgical team replaced them. I nearly sobbed at the lack of an anesthesiologist. Stapleton finished snapping on her gloves before she looked down at me. “You’re lucky I decided to give you a numbing agent, Watson.” Someone off to the side handed her a scalpel. “We can’t use anesthesia for this part.” She didn’t sound the least bit repentant as she lowered the scalpel to my arm and began cutting a long line over my humerus.

I watched in silent horror, because really, what could I have said that could have stopped them, as they began methodically cutting me open, remove a bone, remove the marrow from it and place it in something that looked like the bone, then replace that piece back into my body and seal the cut. It was a strange feeling, watching them cut into me and break things in my body without feeling any of it. The only part I wasn’t able to watch, and for that I am grateful, was the hands and lower body.

When Stapleton was down by my feet, after many breaks, I began wondering what was taking Sherlock so long.

“I know what you’re thinking.” Stapleton said suddenly, her voice muffled by the mask. She glanced at me before continuing. “’Oh, Sherlock will find me.’ ‘Sherlock’s a genius, I’ll be out of here in no time.’” She said in a mockingly high voice. “My sponsor has done a perfect job at hiding this floor. It doesn’t appear on any plans, schematics, or what have you. Also only a select keycards can work the lift. It could be days until your boyfriend even thinks to look down here.”

I didn’t respond to the boyfriend comment, I was an odd combination of too tired and too high-strung to reply to anything she had said. After a short while longer, or hours, I couldn’t tell anymore, Stapleton straightened.

“I’m surprised, Watson. I would’ve expected _something_ by now. Begging, fighting, coercion, anything.” She cocked her head as she stared at me. Behind her, I heard the double doors behind her open and something was wheeled in. “But you just lie there. Doing nothing. You didn’t even react when I held your own bones in front of you.”

“War does a thing to a person.” I replied, looking at what was brought in. I felt the color drain from my face as I recognized the wings that had been on the bird earlier wheeled in on a machine.

Stapleton followed my gaze. “Really, after everything _that_ gets a reaction.” She sighed. “It’s just changing the avian blood to your blood type.”

“So the bird is…”

“Oh, no. Why waste a breeder? There’s no need for wings when laying eggs.” My stomach dropped at her words. Behind her, the door opened once more and I recognized the machine that came through and I guessed that the man that followed it was the anesthesiologist. “Alright, Doctor Watson, I’m sure you’ve been waiting for this. We’re going to let you sleep through this last part.” Stapleton moved away and the orderlies were back and they flipped me on my stomach as the anesthesiologist moved in with a mask. I breathed in deeply and followed his instructions.

10\. 9. 8. 7… 6…. 5…..

* * *

The feeling of being moved was the thing to wake me this time. And I immediately wished to fall back into oblivion. It hurt everywhere. I groaned as it felt like a wave of pain was passing over my body. Pain. Numb. Pain. Numb. With each pass, the throbbing pain worsened. Underneath it all, I barely recognized the feeling of being wrapped. I opened my eyes and saw one of the orderlies wrapping gauze around my chest and back.

“Doctor Watson?” he asked, his deep voice reminding me of Sherlock’s. I looked into his eyes and was saddened when a deep brown stared back at me. “Doctor Stapleton said it was imperative to tell you that you mustn’t remove this bandaging for the next few days. Don't even mess with the binding. We will change it if it needs it. Everything needs to set and if you remove it too early… Just don’t, okay?” I nodded weakly in understanding as he finished the wrapping and moved to pick me up. The movement caused a harsher wave of pain to crash over me and it dragged me back under.

* * *

 “John.”

My ears perked at my name being called.

“John, come on. Wake up.” A deep voice called. I stirred slightly, wincing as the pain came back, and groaning at the pain the wince caused. “That’s good right? That he’s responsive.” I heard the voice say. I didn’t hear a reply and I slowly dragged my eyes open, immediately locking with an incredibly icy blue.

“Sherlock…” I slurred happily. “Where’s Stapleton?”

“In the wind. She was gone by the time we got here.”

“How long…?”

“Nearly 48 hours.” He growled. “I’m sorry, John. It was difficult, finding this place.”

“Moriarty.” I said by way of explanation. I struggled to sit up and, with much difficulty and Sherlock’s help, I sat against the glass wall of my cell, ignoring the sharp pain in my back as I did so. “She said she had a sponsor. He says hi by the way.” I panted. Up against the wall, I was able to assess my condition. The first thing I noticed was the fact that I was naked. Apparently Sherlock hadn’t noticed so I just shifted awkwardly and placed my hands in my lap. I was just able to take in the countless red lines covering my skin before Sherlock’s great coat covered me.

“Thanks.” I muttered, glancing up at him. He was looking anywhere but my face, his looked rather pink though. I watched as his gaze settled on my back and his eyes widened. “Sherlock?” I asked, worried.

“John,” he said slowly, as if he was talking to a wounded animal, “it appears that you have wings.”


End file.
